New Delhi, 05 Jan 2023: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India is organizing a two-day National Workshop on Project Driven Block Panchayat Development Plan (BPDP) and District Panchayat Development Plan (DPDP) during 5 – 6 January 2023 in New Delhi. The National Workshop aims on adopting, conceptualizing, and popularizing the Project Driven Block Panchayat Development Plan and District Panchayat Development Plan to projectile the process and implementation of Panchayat Development Plans.
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| National Workshop on Project Driven Block Panchayat Development |
The workshop was inaugurated by Shri Kapil Moreshwar Patil, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj in the presence of Shri Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Dr. S. M. Vijayanand, Former Secretary, MoPR, Dr. Bala Prasad, Former Special Secretary, MoPR and Shri Alok Prem Nagar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayat Raj. More than 650 delegates including elected representatives and functionaries of District Panchayats and Block Panchayats from across the country and representatives of various line Ministries/ Departments and different organizations/ institutions such as NABARD, IRMA, UNICEF, etc. are attending the two-day workshop.
Shri Kapil Moreshwar Patil extended best wishes to the participants while addressing the two-day National Workshop and said that the National Workshop is being organized at an appropriate time – at the dawn of the New Year – to initiate the planning process for all-round development of rural areas taking everyone along in the spirit of Sabka Saath–Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas–Sabka Prayas. It should be our collective resolution to contribute to nation-building and development by working at the District, Block, and Gram Panchayat levels.
Shri Kapil Moreshwar Patil called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to localize and realize the Sustainable Development Goals in rural areas through Panchayati Raj Institutions in a well-coordinated manner. The three-tier Panchayats should accord the highest priority to the development of villages and rural areas by creating all the basic amenities and providing all the facilities/opportunities available in urban cities for bridging the urban–rural divide.
Technical Session on Project-Driven BPDP and DPDP was chaired by Shri Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. He underlined that the resources being made available to the Panchayati Raj Institutions by the Central Government are continuously improving and the grants for Rural Local Bodies included the Block and District Panchayats as per recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. He added that Block Panchayats and District Panchayats should ensure effective implementation of development works and projects through better-quality Panchayat Development Plans with proper convergence and utilization of funds/ grants received from the Central and State Finance Commissions as well as other financial resources.
Shri Sunil Kumar called upon elected representatives and functionaries of District Panchayats and Block Panchayats to formulate proper, viable, and well-thought-out plans for optimum utilization of the resources and budget available with Panchayats in the larger public interest.
A presentation on the analysis of BPDP and DPDP was made by Shri Alok Prem Nagar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayat Raj. He emphasized that development activities should be projectized at Block Panchayats and District Panchayats level through Panchayat Development Plans and it should be implemented with proper convergence of resources and active involvement of all stakeholders to ensure holistic and sustainable development in rural areas across the country.
Dr. S. M. Vijayanand, Former Secretary of, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj said that District Panchayats and Block Panchayats should endeavor to plan meticulously to utilize Fifteenth Finance Commission Grants properly from a development point of view.
Dr. Bala Prasad, Former Special Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj & Chairman of the Committee on Formulation and Implementation of BPDP and DPDP, made a presentation on Draft Report on Project Driven BPDP and DPDP highlighting the following issues: (i) Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Panchayat Planning, (ii) Process of BPDP and DPDP, (iii) Project Driven BPDP and DPDP and examples of Projects to be Undertaken by Intermediate Panchayats and District Panchayats under Nine Themes and (iv) Capacity Building Framework on Project Driven BPDP and DPDP.
Dr. Bijaya Kumar Behera, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Panchayati Raj highlighted the importance of Mission LiFE implemented by the Government of India. Dr. Behera also chaired a technical session that covered a presentation by States on the status of the formation of BPDP/ DPDP, Success stories, and comments/ suggestions on the Draft Report of the Expert Committee on BPDP/DPDP.
Live streaming of the National Workshop has been made available across MoPR’s official social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. A large number of Panchayat representatives and functionaries joined the National Workshop in virtual mode.
Article 243G of the Constitution of India mandates Panchayats to prepare and implement a plan for economic development and social justice by converging and integrating all such schemes of Central and State Governments within their geographical area as may be entrusted to them including those about the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution. Accordingly, the Gram Panchayats, Intermediate Panchayats, and District Panchayats are formulating Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), Block Panchayat Development Plan (BPDP) and District Panchayat Development Plan (DPDP) respectively for their area.
Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India have been jointly launching the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 for preparing comprehensive GPDPs under the theme “Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas” (meaning Plans of Everybody and Development of Everybody). Since 2020 Block Panchayat Development Plan (BPDP) and District Panchayat Development Plan (DPDP) are also being prepared under the People’s Plan Campaign. The Campaign also strengthened the role of 31 lakh Elected Representatives of Panchayats and 5.25 crore women SHGs under DAY-NRLM. Mission Antyodaya data helps in identifying gaps at the village and Gram Panchayat level and facilitates systematic thrust on evidence-based planning and implementation for the GPDP.
The campaign initiated under the theme “Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas” was an intensive and structured exercise for planning at the Gram Panchayat level through convergence between Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The PPCs have been developed over the years and they are more broad-based, encompassing many new contemporary issues, which have been integrated into the plans of PRIs particularly, national commitments, issues, and problems related to rural areas. PPC 2022 has been launched from 2nd October 2022 to 31st March 2023 for preparing comprehensive GPDP, BPDP, and DPDP for the next financial year 2023–24. The main objectives of the PPC 2022 are as follows:
(i) Preparation of participatory, comprehensive, and convergent GPDP, BPDP, and DPDP by Gram Panchayats, Intermediate Panchayats, and District Panchayats respectively in a time-bound manner across the country.
(ii) Evidence-Based Assessment of Progress made during previous years and consideration of proposals for 2023-24 in all 29 subjects of the Eleventh Schedule of Constitution and covering 9 themes of Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for respective Panchayats.
(iii) Gram Sabha meetings should be preceded by meetings of 'Bal Sabha' and 'Mahila Sabha' apart from 'Ward Sabha' – these would facilitate enumeration and articulation of demands of children and women in addition to the community at large.
(iv) Achieving effective Localization of SDGs through seamless integration of 9 thematic approaches of SDGs into GPDP.
(v) Effective integration of Village Poverty Reduction Plans (VPRPs) into GPDP.
(vi) Promoting Gender Responsive Governance in rural areas through the effective involvement of Elected Women Representatives (EWRs), Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and women members in the community in the planning process.
(vii) Undertake Public Information Campaign with public disclosure on Schemes, Finances, etc. of all schemes & programs in respective Panchayat Office and on the Public Information Board.
Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India has constituted a Committee on the formulation and implementation of the Project-driven Block Panchayat Development Plan (BPDP) and District Panchayat Development Plan (DPDP) under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Bala Prasad, Former Special Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj vide Office Memorandum dated 9th November 2022. The terms of reference of the Committee are as follows:
(i) To lay out guidelines/ advisories for the State, District Panchayat, and Intermediate/ Block Panchayat to prepare a project based BPDP and DPDP.
(ii) The project should be preferably (a) Broad-based (b) Income Generating (c) sustainable (d) Should be of a nature that Gram Panchayat could not execute on its own.
(iii) To prepare a format for the preparation of project-based BPDP & DPDP based on the thematic framework of localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
(iv) Preparation of an illustrative list of activities/projects of BPDP & DPDP aligned with SDGs.
(v) Any other matter of importance related to BPDP and DPDP.
Comments/ suggestions on the Draft Report of the Expert Committee on BPDP/DPDP have been invited from the participants of the National Workshop on Project Driven Block Panchayat Development Plan (BPDP) and District Panchayat Development Plan (DPDP) for discussion during 5 – 6 January 2023.